Disused Sardinian coal mine in the Sulcis basin, now held under concession for environmental remediation and potential redevelopment.
The Ex Miniera di Carbone di Seruci, situated in the municipality of Gonnesa in south-western Sardinia, was a substantial coal mine operating within the Sulcis coalfield. Originally known as Littoria II, the mine received its first concession in 1923 but began production in 1938 under the Società Mineraria Carbonifera Sarda. Output rose sharply in the early years of operation, reaching around 100,000 tonnes in 1938 and approaching 250,000 tonnes by 1942.
Declining market conditions for Sulcis coal after the late 1940s prompted proposals for pit-head uses including chemical fertiliser production and a thermal power station, but these came to nothing. The concession passed to ENEL in October 1964, which suspended active extraction in 1972. The coal-washing plant was dismantled in 1992 and transferred to Nuraxi Figus.
The site is currently held under concession by Carbosulcis S.p.A., a company controlled by the Regione Sardegna, which is implementing environmental remediation works. A cableway once carried coal directly to Portovesme. The surface complex retains a variety of industrial and administrative buildings, and the central shaft remains in place.
The coal deposits around Seruci, in the municipality of Gonnesa, formed part of the wider Sulcis coalfield, a body of Eocene sub-bituminous coal on the south-western coast of Sardinia. The geological significance of the area was identified through the work of Dr Riccardo Jaffé, whose surveys directed westward towards the sea — contrary to the eastward direction pursued for some eighty previous years — revealed a previously unsuspected extent of the deposit, with coal of better quality than that worked in the older eastern fields.
A first concession covering the Seruci area was granted to the Mineraria di Bacu Abis in 1923, though no substantial production followed immediately. The true operational birth of the mine dates to 1938, when the Società Mineraria Carbonifera Sarda — also known as Carbosarda — took up the concession in earnest and began extraction. The mine was identified in the system of state-directed coal development as Littoria II, a companion to Littoria I at nearby Nuraxi Figus and to the mines at Serbariu and Cortoghiana. Significant investment was made in modernising surface structures and driving new underground galleries. Production climbed rapidly: approximately 100,000 tonnes were raised in 1938, rising to over 190,000 tonnes in 1939 and approaching 250,000 tonnes by 1942. The mine formed part of Italy's autarchic drive to reduce dependence on imported fuel, with the Sulcis coalfield designated as the country's principal domestic energy resource.
After the peak years of the early 1940s, the economics of Sulcis coal deteriorated steadily. By the late 1940s, market prices for the local coal no longer covered production costs. Two successive proposals for pit-head industrial use were advanced to give the mine a new commercial purpose: first, a plan attributed to Giacomo Levi for the manufacture of chemical fertilisers from the coal; second, a plan associated with Giorgio Carta for a large thermal power station directly fed from the mine. Neither scheme came to fruition. The concession was transferred to ENEL in October 1964. Despite the transfer, active extraction was suspended in 1972. The coal-washing and preparation plant was dismantled in 1992 and its equipment transferred to the neighbouring Nuraxi Figus installation. A cableway that had carried coal directly to the industrial port at Portovesme also ceased to function when the mine closed.
Following closure, the site passed under the concession held by Carbosulcis S.p.A., a company formed in 1976 by EGAM and the Ente Minerario Sardo to take over the ENEL-held coal concessions in the Sulcis. Carbosulcis itself is wholly controlled by the Regione Autonoma Sardegna. In the period after 2018, when coal extraction ceased definitively at the combined Monte Sinni concession, Carbosulcis undertook environmental remediation at Seruci under the terms of a closure plan approved by the European Commission in 2014, with a deadline for completion of remediation and site closure by the end of 2026. Embankment restoration and remediation works at Seruci are reported to have been completed. The site is not currently open to the public without prior authorisation and Carbosulcis escort. The surface complex retains a variety of buildings including traditional masonry structures with tiled roofs, prefabricated industrial sheds, the former workers' changing rooms and showers, and an experimental trolley installation in the upper part of the site. The central shaft is present at the centre of the complex. Separately, the shaft identified as Pozzo 1 at the Seruci site was earmarked for the ARIA project of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, which involves the installation of a cryogenic distillation column for the separation of stable isotopes including Argon-40, intended for dark matter research. Structural maintenance and consolidation works on the extraction tower of Pozzo 1 were carried out from 2022.